Hams in Combat -One Life to GiveJuly 1944 QST Article

Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles
from ARRL's QST, published December 1915 - present. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.

QST
did a regular series of articles titled "Hams in Combat" during
World War II. This story is unique in nature in that it tells of
a newspaperman-turned-soldier who, in the story writer's mind, would
have been the most suited for the job of author. It tells a far
different story of the South Pacific than we were treated to in
weekly episodes of
McHale's Navy!

"Had this story been written by the man
who should have written it - Capt. William H. Graham, W9BNC - it
would have been one of the greatest "Hams in Combat" yarns ever
told in these pages. But Bill Graham never got around to writing
his story. He was too intensely occupied with the living of it -
too keenly aware of the new paragraph that was the moment, too eager
to learn what was on the next page. And then, on March 20th, in
the dark jungles of New Guinea, he came to a page that bore the
words: 'The End.'"

Update (12/27/2012) - This letter was received
today that helps me justify going to the trouble of posting
these old articles:

"I just wanted to send my immense
gratitude towards an article published on 4/5/2011 by a "C.B.D." titled
"Hams in Combat" about First Lt. William H. Graham has
given me an incredible amount of information. I am the
great grandson of Mr. Graham and my grandfather, Bill Graham's
son, Roger Graham just passed away a few days ago. As such,
I have been trying to find out as much information as possible
given what I have from my family. Your article has single handily given
us more information than I have heard all of my life and believe
me, I've been prodding for military history for years from my
family. With that being said, can I inquire as to where many
of these quotes were sourced from? I've been given a handful
of photos of my great grandfather but and constantly looking
for more. I really appreciate the fantastic article and I hope
you have the time to reply."

My response in part was,
"When QST does not print an author's name with the article,
it usually means it was written by a staff editor. In this case,
my guess would be QST editor Clinton B. DeSoto (call sign W1CBD)
is 'C.B.D.' You can see Mr. DeSoto's name on the
Table of Contents.

Hams in Combat

One Life to Give ...For twenty-five years
Bill Graham was an ace newspaperman - one of the best in the game.
He was a reporter. He wasn't a news analyst or a commentator or
a columnist. He was the kind of newspaperman who digs out the facts
- the exact facts, all the facts and nothing but the facts - and
writes them up in straightforward, understandable language.

That kind of talent - the ability to collect, analyze and interpret
information accurately and cogently - is precisely the kind required
in military intelligence work. By training and experience, therefore,
Capt. Graham was exceptionally qualified for his Army duty: he was
a combat intelligence officer. It was in the performance of that
duty that he met his death.

Bill Graham was also a ham -
a devoted and proficient ham. That, of course, is why his story
belongs in QST. As told here, it is based in part on bits of the
letters he sent back home and on fragments from the pieces he wrote
for his paper. The rest of the story comes from the record.

In Bill Graham's case that record is both a full and distinguished
one.

Bill was born a Kentuckian, with all the fire and chivalry
indigenous to his breed. Beattyville, Ky., was his birthplace, but
he was still in his teens when he left there, drawn by the lure
of a roving newspaperman's life.

He started his journalistic
career as a sports reporter on a Nashville, Tenn., paper. He was
a bright-eyed cub, hardworking and friendly. His versatility and
zeal attracted the attention of the local Nashville AP bureau. Soon
he was offered a better job with the Associated Press.

"We strafed hell out of the place ...slugging it out at tree-top
level with the Nips."

The AP packed Bill off to South Dakota to serve his novitiate as
correspondent at Sioux Falls. It wasn't long before he proved himself
capable of a bigger assignment. In 1921 he was sent to Omaha, Neb.,
as a vacation relief man in the AP office there.

Omaha seemed
to Bill a pretty good place in which to forsake the roving life
and settle down. In the fall, when his summer relief job was ended,
he left the AP to join the Omaha World-Herald as an assignment reporter.

Omaha and the World-Herald became home to Bill Graham. He
liked them and they liked him ­liked his refreshing personality,
his energy and drive, his uncompromising fearlessness and his equally
relentless tenacity in digging out the truth. Above all, they liked
him because he was a conscientious and competent reporter.

Bill occupied just about every desk on the paper at one time
or another. He was state editor for several years. As an assignment
reporter he covered many of the biggest news stories in Omaha and
in the state at large. His reporting of the Nebraska state legislature
won him laurels among newsmen.

It was in covering the Douglas
County court­house beat that he did his most notable work, however.
A journalistic Jeremiah, he was the bane of chiseling politicians.
Single-handed he wrecked a powerful but corrupt machine. In his
obituary write-up the World-Herald said: "He was the journalistic
broom which swept out a number of commissioners, .and brought about
numerous reforms. It was there that his courage and tenacity were
best exemplified...."

Bill Graham's introduction to radio
came as an offshoot of his journalistic enterprise. In 1923. at
Omaha's WOW, then just beginning to build its subsequent nationwide
reputation as a pioneer broadcaster, the revolutionary idea was
conceived of broadcasting news summaries as interludes between the
recordings and home-talent artists. Bill did the broadcasting, and
thus became one of the country's pioneer newscasters.

Bill's
insatiable curiosity about everything under the sun soon led him
to explore the technical aspects of broadcasting. That, inevitably,
brought him into contact with the hams who were running WOW's transmitter.

Five years passed before that first tentative contact culminated
in the issuance of the license for W9BNC. Actually, they were years
of preparation. When Bill Graham went into anything he first equipped
himself painstakingly, and that was true of ham radio.

W9BNC
soon became well known on all bands, 'phone and c.w. Bill participated
actively in every phase of the game. He worked DX, handled traffic,
and was always willing to chew the rag. Working WAC and WAS was
a common­place achievement to him.

Unlike
many another competent and active operator, however, his vision
extended beyond the knobs on the panel. He had a thorough technical
grounding and the restless, questing spirit of the true experimenter.
He was not a . "tinkerer" - he was an inveterate experimenter and
a competent researcher.

On the organizational side of amateur
radio, as might be expected, Bill was equally active. He took an
active interest in both local and divisional affairs and served
as a valued advisor to each successive Midwest Division director.

In 1938, under the traditional system of rotating divisional
conventions, it was Omaha's turn to sponsor the Midwest Division
ARRL Convention. At the time, however, there was no active amateur
club in Omaha to run the affair. To Bill Graham that was a challenge.
He got together the leading hams in Omaha and Council Bluffs and
organized them into a convention committee. They retaliated by electing
him general chairman. He threw himself into the job with all his
abundant energy and turned out one of the most successful ham conventions
ever held in the Midwest.

For several years he served as
assistant division director for Nebraska, and in 1941 he was elected
alternate director for the Midwest Division. When his first two-year
term ended he was far off in the wilds of New Guinea.

The
fact that Bill hadn't been in touch with his constituents for over
a year didn't affect their support. He was reelected without opposition.

In New Guinea, some three months after the event, he received
official word from ARRL Hq. of his reelection. In reply he wrote:
"Thanks for your notification upon my 're­election' as alternate
director, which came via Omaha and Mrs. Graham. I must confess I
feel pretty helpless to serve from this vast jungle-land!" And he
went on: "Some of my constituents write me that they hope the ARRL
will keep on its toes and see that we don't lose any frequencies
when peace comes and the airways are opened again. I pass this word
along, knowing that the Headquarters gang is doing and will do all
possible to guard our interests in all directions.'

That
letter was dated March 19th. On March 20th Bill Graham was killed
in an airplane crash while on a reconnaissance mission.

He need not have been concerned about his ability to be of service.
He and the scores of other hams in this war who have given their
lives for their country - and for amateur radio - are its surest
guarantee for the future.

Bill hadn't been in uniform in
World War 1. For that reason he felt that he had to get into this
one. And so, immediately after Pearl Harbor, he volunteered in the
Air Corps. In May. 1942, he was commissioned a first lieutenant.

He was given training at the Harrisburg (Pa.) AAF school,
majoring in combat intelligence. In July, 1942, he was sent to the
South Pacific to join MacArthur's command. When he arrived down
under he was assigned to the 43rd Bombardment Group (Heavy). He
was stationed at Fifth Air Force headquarters in Australia, a member
of the headquarters squadron. For nearly a year he served on detached
duty with the Aussies and later the Dutch.

Capt. William H. Graham, W9BNC.

In March, 1943, he was transferred to New Guinea. In his own words:
"I came back with our forces - Yanks, as they call us, much to the
consternation of the boys below the Mason-Dixon line. We are pretty
deep in the New Guinea wilds. Near enough that the Japs pester us
nearly every night with nuisance raids. They only make us climb
out of bed at all hours and lose some sleep, though. Actually, their
bombing is impotent."

About his new assignment he wrote:
"For security reasons I cannot tell you exactly the kind of work
I am engaged in, except to say that. it has its exciting moments.
I've had nearly 100 hours of combat flying in heavy bombers and
have been lucky enough to get in on three of our major landings
on Jap strongholds." The three major actions to which he referred
included the Allied landings at Lae and Cape Gloucester.

When Los Negros Island in the Admiralty group was seized he
was official observer for the AAF and witnessed the entire action
from a bleacher seat in a combat plane.

Preceding the Los
Negros invasion Bill played an impromptu supporting role in the
softening-up bombing operations. As he described it:

"Over
Momote, the Japs' fine airport on Los Negros Island, I had a hell
of a lot of fun. The heavy bombers were scheduled to go in first
and bomb the harbor shore where our land forces were to go in. Then
we were to be followed by the mediums, and finally the strafers.
But the weather was foul and few of the lighter boys got through
that morning. So we took this big, lumbering bomber down to strafing
level and decided to do the job ourselves. Inasmuch as I had replaced
a gunner, it was up to me to man a couple of machine guns. So we
strafed hell out of the place and I shot away nearly one thousand
rounds of ammunition. I don't know how much damage, if any, my lead
caused. It must have looked funny to the amphibious forces to see
that bomber slugging it out at tree-top level with the Nips."

It was in New Guinea that Bill Graham saw most of his active
combat experience. About his ham encounters down under he wrote:

"Most of my foreign service (nearly two years now!) has
been in the New Guinea wilds and as you know there aren't many Fuzzy
Wuzzy hams here. I did meet some of the lads down in Australia,
chiefly Wal Ryan, VK2TI, of Sydney .... When he heard I was in town
for a day he used up his entire month's gas ration - taking me to
his home for the day, showing me some sights, then to the airport
in the evening, etc. He wouldn't have it any other way. He had quite
a bunch of the Sydney amateurs in for the evening, too, and honestly,
Ken, I never saw such hospitality. They made me feel like the great
white warrior come from America to save their country single­handed!
I was prouder, I believe, than at any time in my life that I was
an amateur."

Underlying the tales he sent back from that
theater, even when describing hardships, always was a characteristic
lightness of touch:

"Here where I am located, deep in the
New Guinea wilds, we don't even try to cope with the abundance of
bug and insect life. The 'krud' is the name we have given to some
three thousand jungle itches that bother us here.

"A tentmate
of mine got up the other morning to get his mess kit, hanging on
a tent pole. It was covered with big yellowish green ants. As fast
as he'd flick off one ant two others would crawl back on, rearing
on their hind legs and, literally leering at him. Finally, in a
pathetic tone, he addressed the ants: 'Please, boys, let me have
my mess kit!' That tickled my funny bone all day."

This
account of a native celebration is excerpted from a World-Herald
Sunday feature - the last piece he wrote for his paper:

"For many days we had noticed great numbers of Fuzzy Wuzzies trooping
in from miles around . . . . We learned they were trekking here
for some kind of ceremonial. . . . The ceremonial turned out to
be a photographer's paradise. . . .

"We could hear the drums
pounding away long before we reached the ceremonial ground in our
jeep. . . . There were big Fuzzies, fat ones, slim ones, dwarfish
ones, albinos and the usual droves of native youngsters, stark naked.
. . . They were beating their drums, howling and stamping their
feet up and down Indian fashion, only not so fast. . . . I snapped
pictures, fully expecting my head to be chopped off or a spear impale
me. But nothing happened. They went right on dancing, not noticing
me at all. . . . A lass of perhaps 17 . . . even flashed me a smile
as she pranced past. She wasn't half as embarrassed in her semi-nude
state as I snapping her picture.

"An Aussie captain, noting
my American technique, approached and offered to wager I couldn't
get a photo of a particularly attractive (to another Fuzzy) girl
of 18 who was standing near by watching the dancers. He'd been trying
to photograph her for half an hour. And in that time three or four
others had failed, he said. Remembering some tricks of the World-Herald
photogs, I said: 'Look, buddy!'

"I focused my 35-mm. camera
on a blade of kuai grass at right angles and about the same distance
as the girl from me. The girl eyed me over her shoulder, her back
to me - a pose, incidentally in which no self-respecting Yank photographer
would ever take a native girl. Finally she turned away from me,
satisfied I wasn't interested in her .... I pointed the camera at
the girl. . . .

" 'Now yell at the top of your voice,' I
told the Aussie. He was embarrassed and wouldn't. Then I asked him
to whistle as loudly as he could and he let loose a blast that could
be heard at Blup Blup. The girl, of course, turned to see what the
commotion was and I snapped. She may have a surprised look when
the negatives come out.

" 'Uncanny blokes, you Yanks,' the
Aussie commented as I wound the film for the next shot ...."

At the last Bill was getting homesick. For two years he had
seen only one member of his family - who was, singularly enough,
a stranger! His daughter Marilyn had married an Army lieutenant
after Bill left the U. S. The new son-in-law himself subsequently
was shipped to Australia, and the two met there. Bill had a son,
too ­ Roger. On the very day - March 29th - that the Graham family
was notified of Bill's death, Roger was to have left for duty in
the Navy.

In January Bill wrote to a fellow World-Herald
staff member: "This leaves me disgustingly healthy, and as happy
as a fellow could be who has been away from his family for darn
near two years. Good gosh, I just happened to think. I'm now eligible
to wear four service chevrons. . . . It doesn't seem two years since
I last visited the old gang. I wonder what changes there will be
when I return? I'd give four front teeth to be able to sit in on
a party with you all tonight - even if you only served ice-water!
... I'm expecting to get home later this year. Feel as though ....
"

And then, just before his death, he wrote: "I hope
that before the end of the year I will get leave back to the States.
Unfortunately, in my line of work, the longer I am here the more
valuable I can be. They never figure we, too, can get war-weary."

It was the next day he set out on the mission from which
he did not return.

How he met his death we do not know.
The official report states only that "Capt. Graham was killed in
an airplane crash in New Guinea on 20 March 1944." That's all the
War Department will say about it. The Public Relations Branch, the
Press Branch, the War Branch, the Casualty Branch - each is silent
about the details.

There is a reason for their silence,
of course. We have learned, informally, that the mishap was not
classified as a "combat" crash. That in­dicates that it occurred
on a reconnaissance mission. And reconnaissance was Bill Graham's
job - or a part of it, at least. It wasn't coincidence that, in
the past, he happened to be around a number of Jap bases not long
before things sud­denly started to get hot for the Sons of Heaven.

If the Army doesn't want to say how or where Bill came to
his last landing, therefore, we don't propose to speculate about
it in print. We know only that, however or wherever it happened,
he was doing his duty per orders - doing it with un­flinching courage
and unswerving determination.

Before he made his final unanticipated
rendezvous with the Master Pilot, Bill Graham left a prophetic legacy
to the game he loved. In the final paragraph of that letter dated
March 19th - the day before his death - he wrote:

"In nearly
everyone of my missions there has been a ham at the bomber's radio
- a mighty important fellow on the crew of a bomber. No, after this
is over, the amateur will have no excuses to offer for his part
in this three-dimensional war. He has functioned to the everlasting
glory of us all."

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